Conservation of energy and existing heritage values

[Music]

the earliest most memorable experience

that i have in an existing building was

back in 2010

when i went to scotland for my first

karate world championships

it was the first time i decided to

believe in myself that i could do

greater things than i thought

i was at the edinburgh castle taking a

tour with my teammates

during the day before we would return in

the evening for the opening ceremonies

which were epic there were so many

things that fascinated me about this

place

but to put it in simple terms i could

feel the character of the building

through the stories that its aged

materials told

it didn’t feel run down and moldy which

is what you might associate with

heritage buildings

it was lively exciting and it gave me a

glimpse

of the scottish culture and history

little did i know back then that it

would also become a key player in the

fight against

climate change my guidance counselor

in high school would not have been able

to tell me that

i would be studying how to make cool

existing buildings better for the

environment

so we keep amazing existing buildings

like these

but what about the ordinary existing

buildings

we are more accustomed to demolishing

the ordinary existing buildings

because we think they’re of less value

but

this is accelerating the demise of our

environment

the amount of construction waste

produced every year from demolition is

insurmountable

in 2017 500 millions of tons

of construction waste was generated in

the united states

this is millions of tons from one

country and it totaled more than twice

the amount of the regular city waste if

we reuse

old buildings and their materials until

they’re no longer of use

then we will have reduced the

construction industry’s waste

drastically globally buildings emit

about 40 percent of annual greenhouse

gas emissions

that’s more than all of transportation

combined

you might think that the solution would

be to build new net zero energy

buildings

but ponder this 60 percent of the built

environment that exists today

will still be present in 2050 however

just keeping

existing buildings is not enough we need

to reduce

the carbon emissions from existing

buildings by

81 percent by 2030 and 100

by 2050 in order to prevent critical

warming

above 1.5 degrees celsius

imagine that we could keep the history

in existing buildings

and the carbon to make it better for the

environment

and people we can do this through deep

energy retrofits

what is a deep energy retrofit it’s the

combination of changes that we can make

to a building

in order to cut its energy energy use by

at least half these changes can be made

to

the walls windows roofs the building

systems which includes the water heater

and what heats ventilates and conditions

the building spaces

and we also need to look at the energy

source can we

produce and store on-site renewable

energy like solar wind and hydro

to provide some or all of the buildings

energy use when we reduce the energy use

we are reducing the amount of carbon

emissions

linked to its energy source how do we do

this in

a strategic and systematic way we need

to

first understand the building through

different tools to assess the current

condition of the building

then we create an energy model that

represents the building’s interactions

with its environment

using this baseline energy model we can

iterate combinations of changes

what we call retrofits and then select

the best retrofits to maximize the

energy savings

while also respecting key character

defining elements

of the building i did exactly this

during my thesis for my masters where i

studied a heritage house in ottawa

canada

to determine how much energy could be

saved through respectful retrofits

what do i mean by respectful retrofits i

mean

i won’t change the entire aesthetic of

the building removing all the things

that you love

about your house we keep these elements

of the building

to maintain the beauty and value of the

house

so for my thesis research i had the

opportunity to work with a passionate

person

angela who cared about reducing the

energy related carbon emissions from her

house

she felt a personal obligation to do

more in the fight against climate change

because of her privilege living in a

place like canada

she said that the wealthy have had the

largest impact on climate change

while generally more vulnerable groups

that experience

other daily challenges like poverty feel

the worst consequences

of climate change so when given the

opportunity to get a free energy

analysis

done on her house she enthusiastically

said yes

she was eager to let me enter her house

to

play doctor and research what changes

could be made

to make it better for the environment

her utility bills

and in keeping the heritage character of

the house

the bonus was that i was getting

hands-on experience

in the industry that i wanted to work in

as a student

people will throw you a bone like this

because most people pity broke students

usually a homeowner may not seek these

professional

services due to cost or availability

so this was a win-win-win situation

the third win being for the environment

and heritage

so first in my process of my thesis

research i talked to

angela because being the owner she has a

lot of knowledge on her house

angela had already started improving her

house

so it was performing better than the

average house to gain a better

understanding of the behavior of the

house

i measured the heat transfer through the

walls and roof

i took thermal imaging of the house to

see

the heat movement through the house and

identify problem areas

then i went to my computer and

essentially played a video game

of creating creating an energy model

to make it as realistic as possible to

the

existing house so that we can predict

how much energy will be saved

with each energy savings option once i

did some analysis then i checked in with

angela to see which options

she would prefer based on things like

cost and practicality

at my work we like to keep things fun

for everyone at this stage

so we conduct it kind of like a game

show

we split the room into two teams and ask

them to choose their best

options in three different categories

one

the most carbon emissions saved two the

best value for the price

and three a combination of both

so from my analysis we learned that

angela could save

71 percent of her annual energy

and this was 71 percent savings on a

house that was already performing better

than most

how did we do this by increasing the

insulation levels

upgrading the building systems adding

sensors and controls to reduce the

electricity use

adding storm windows to the historic

windows air tightening the building

enclosure

and adding solar photovoltaic panels

all this could be done while conserving

the main heritage elements

of the exterior red brick facade and

other elements

of its dutch colonial and queen anne

revival architectural styles

the beautiful historic radio radiators

and the interior wood molding

these are the things that angela loves

about her house

and we were able to keep them she loves

being part of her neighborhood

that’s enriched by the character of the

old houses

so with the knowledge of how to get to

71

energy savings she is starting to

implement the retrofits

but it’s happening gradually over the

next few years

because of the capital that it requires

these are some of the challenges that

homeowners are facing

in the practical process of getting the

retrofits

that they need the price point is still

not there where it needs to be

to make it accessible to most homeowners

and there’s not enough policy or

practical

readily available information

surrounding this topic in ontario to

support homeowners

this means that there’s still a large

gap in practicality for homeowners

that want to save money energy and the

values of their house

through environmentally positive changes

to their houses

we need to improve policy and services

for homeowners

to make the changes that are required to

meet 2030 and 2050 climate change

targets

angela is a community leader who’s

talking to the municipality

about these issues and how we can solve

them each of us can do what we can

in the fight against climate change to

make a difference

we all love our ordinary existing

buildings

even though we don’t live in magical

historic castles

so let’s flip the switch on the climate

crisis by conserving our ordinary

existing buildings

improving their sustainability while

also maintaining their character

to ensure that our future will be bright